This invention relates to internal combustion engines.
Internal combustion engines which are most commonly in use, include a number of reciprocating pistons which operate in cylinders under an Otto cycle to draw in a charge of air or air/fuel mixture and compress same for ignition, either by means of an applied spark or by compression ignition. Whilst many other non-reciprocating engine designs have been developed or proposed, in general such alternate designs have not proved particularly advantageous over conventional reciprocating engines which remain in predominant use in the motor vehicle industry and other industries.
In current internal combustion engines, however, much of the heat energy is wasted, either by being exhausted to atmosphere, by radiating heat energy from the engine block or by transferring heat into the radiator cooling system.